ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia pardons board has granted clemency to a former high school football player who was set to die this week for killing an ex-classmate in 1991.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles said Friday it would reduce Daniel Greene's death sentence to life without parole. The board had earlier stayed his execution, which was set for Thursday, so it could consider Greene's arguments.

It was the fourth death sentence commuted by the five-member board since 2002 and the first since 2008.

The former Taylor County standout was sentenced to death in 1992 for killing 20-year-old Bernard Walker as he was trying to aid a store clerk who had been robbed and stabbed by Greene.

Greene has apologized for the killing, saying he was on drugs at the time.

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